Lisa Barry: It seems about the only time I ever hear the Corinthian passage about love is during a wedding ceremony. Here is a couple, all dressed up like prince and princess ready to embark on a life of bliss. They gaze into each other's eyes and confirm their commitment to love each other. Then I remember my own wedding. Love seemed like about the easiest thing in the world to do. What was going to be so difficult about loving someone I already loved?

Well, harder than I thought, because now I know that love means going shopping without spending money. And love means ordering green olives, which I hate, on half of the pizza, even though the juice always spills over to my side. Hmmm. Love? That's our topic today, and here is Elisabeth Elliot to get us started.

Elisabeth Elliot: The omnipotence of love. I want to read the definitive passage from 1 Corinthians 13. "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

So we have to learn to love. The best way to learn to love is to read this passage, memorize this passage, print it up, frame it on the wall, do whatever you need to do to keep in mind that this is the secret of a happy marriage. Love is patient, but I'm not. So how do I expect to acquire the grace, the virtue, of patience? By being confronted with impatience. That's how it will happen.

It's only when I am tempted to be impatient or when someone is being impatient with me, which certainly will tempt me to be impatient with him or her--that is the Lord handing to me on a platter the opportunity to learn patience.

"Love is kind." How do I expect to learn kindness to someone who is unkind to me? This is my opportunity. When that unkindness touches my life, then I have the opportunity to practice this kind of love, which is omnipotent love. Love overcomes all unkindness, if we are exhibiting the kind of love which is kind.

"Love does not envy." Now I suppose that most of us here, at some time or other, have been the object of jealousy. That is a very deadly thing.

I was speaking with a friend of mine who is a missionary in Europe. She told me that she had a tremendously, almost an overpowering, sense of jealousy over her husband whenever she saw her husband talking to another woman, in church or in any equally non-threatening situation. She said, "I know my husband is not unfaithful. He has absolutely no intention of creating any kind of a relationship with that person. I know my feeling of jealousy is irrational, but I just can't stand it."

She said, "Sometimes we'll come home from having been at church or at a party or something, and I am so furious with him because I saw him talking to somebody on the other side of the room. What can I do?" Love does not envy. It is not jealous. It does not boast. It is not proud.

She said, "You told me in one of your talks that I should get down on my knees and lift up whatever this sin is that I cannot handle, offer it to Jesus Christ." She said, "I just went ahead and did that. I didn't see how in the world it could possibly work, but I just went and got down on my knees."

She said she got out of bed and went into another room and got down on her knees, lifted up her hands with this terrible jealousy in her hands, as it were, and said, "Lord, I can't handle this. But I am going to hand it over to You. By Your grace and in the name of Jesus Christ I will not retrieve it."

She said, "Elisabeth, it has changed my life." Now that's not me talking, you know. I got that out of this book. God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness. The Scriptures come by inspiration of God and are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness. So here is our instruction in this question of the omnipotence of love.

Somebody is going to say to me, "But I have to start by learning to love myself." Have you ever heard that? Well, you know, I think that would be a full-time job for me for the rest of my life. I'm too old to start on a job like that.

Where did we ever get such an absurd notion? I think it's a hideous distortion of Jesus' words when He said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." He was not saying, "You must learn to love yourself in order to love your neighbor." Jesus was simply pointing out a very human characteristic, which is that we are born loving ourselves.

Now there's a certain way in which we can properly love ourselves, in the sense that we feed ourselves and we exercise and we sleep and we clothe ourselves. If somebody steps on our foot, what is our reaction? Instant self-defense. We do love ourselves. Jesus is taking an obvious facet of human nature and saying, "Give your neighbor at least the break that you give yourself."

That's the minimum-to love your neighbor as yourself. To love your enemy is harder, isn't it? But this is what omnipotent love is about. I do not have to start by learning to love myself, because I already love myself.

I'm sure that someone is here today who is going to say, "I disagree with you on that, because I've always had a poor self-image or low self-esteem, and it was because of this and this and this and the way I was treated when I was growing up," or whatever your excuses may be.

Do you think that when you're trying to work on your self-esteem you are thinking of how other people think of you, or are you thinking about how you think about yourself, or are you thinking about how God thinks of you? I never can understand what exactly it is people think they're working on when they say, "I have to work on my self-worth." Is it what other people think you are worth? Is it what you think you are worth? Is it what you think other people think you are worth? Or is it what God thinks?

Martin Luther said, "Jesus did not die because we are worthy. We are worthy because He died." He has died for all of us. It was worth His going to the cross for us. But if we are working on our self-worth, in the hopes that other people are going to think we're more worthy than we think we are, or that we ourselves are going to think we're more worthy than we thought we were, the whole thing is just too complicated for me. I want to say, "Forget it." I want to start by learning to love God.

I love what the German philosopher Goethe said. He said, "Only God knows who I am, and may God preserve me from ever finding out." That's the way I feel.

The love of which Jesus speaks can never be directed toward ourselves. The love of which Jesus speaks can never be directed toward ourselves. If we love Him, we will love the brethren. We have to learn, day by day, and I am ashamed to think how many years it is taking me, and I'm still in the process, of learning to love.

He says, "If you want to be My disciple, you give up your right to yourself." That's got to be the hardest thing that Jesus has ever asked of us. He put it right at the front. He spoke this to the multitudes. How many want to be a disciple? How many really wanted to follow Him for anything other than the loaves and the fishes?

He said, "You don't have to follow Me." He didn't say it that way, but this is what He was implying. "There are many rabbis, many itinerant rabbis. If you want to be My disciple, these are the conditions. Give up your right to yourself. Take up the cross. Follow Me." Love means giving up my right to myself.

There are two factors which will prevent any marriage from ever breaking up. Two simple, but not easy, factors. One is the intention of unity. The intention of unity. If everything I do and every word I utter to my husband is aimed at unity, because we are quite literally, the Bible tells us, one flesh, there will never be a break-up.

The second thing is concern for the good of the other person. If we had time to have some testimonies from some of the whiteheads we have here today, I'm sure every one of you would agree with me. We haven't done it very well. We're sinful and it's a sinful woman living with a sinful man and we have to live together 365 days a year. We have to love each other. But over the years, God in His mercy and in His exhaustible patience, teaches us that these two simple things are what make a happy marriage.

Lisa Barry: Well, I sure got a lot of help out of today's program, and I hope you did, too. In fact, you may want to get a copy of this series so you're able to listen to this over and over again and remind yourself of the things that are really important and what true love means. The title to ask for when you write to us is LOVE THAT'S OUT OF THIS WORLD.

When you write, I'd also like you to consider being a financial partner with us at Gateway To Joy. There are a few different ways you can become involved, and one of them is to pray for us. We really do covet your prayers and need them on our behalf.

Another way to get involved is to simply send a gift of any amount toward the ongoing expenses here. You could also opt to be a regular supporter through our Gatekeepers program. Feel free to ask for more information about any of those ways, and may we thank you in advance for your gift today. Here's our address: Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Or call 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Our Internet ministry address is gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

We'll learn more about this all-powerful love next time, so be sure and be with us for the next Gateway To Joy.